Unraveling Complexities of Latino Racialization

In this review, we advocate for deeper exploration of Latino racialization by highlighting three core complexities: complexities of racial categorization, state-based racialization, and within-group variation. We review research on these complexities, focusing on the US Census and immigration system as key state mechanisms that have shaped and obscured Latino racialization. Our goal is to review and outline dynamic features of Latino racialization, illustrating that such processes operate both in aggregate forms and in ways that reflect within-group variation, impacting Latinos who are not as frequently centered in the broader Latino category. We propose an expansive definition of racialization and introduce a conceptual model to address racial alignments (and misalignments) among its core elements: racial identification, racial ascription, and shared experiences of structural racism. The model accounts for multiple complex mechanisms by which racialization plays out and demonstrates that Latino racialization mirrors broader patterns in racial formation and is not so uniquely complex.